Pillar CMOS structure

ABSTRACT

A method of forming a pillar CMOS FET device, especially an inverter, and the device so formed is provided. The method includes forming abutting N wells and P wells in a silicon substrate and then forming N +  and P +  diffusions in the P and N wells respectively. A unitary pillar of the epitaxial silicon is grown on the substrate having a base at the substrate overlying both the N and P wells and preferably extending at least from said N +  diffusion to said P +  diffusion in said substrate. The pillar terminates at a distal end. An N well is formed on the side of the pillar overlying the N well in the substrate and a P well is formed on the side of the distal end of the pillar overlying the P well on the substrate and abuts the N well in the pillar. A P +  diffusion is formed in the N well in the pillar adjacent the distal end and a N +  diffusion is formed in the P well in the pillar adjacent the distal end. A gate insulator dioxide is formed over both sides of the pillar and gate electrodes are formed over the gate insulators.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 09/009,456,filed Jan. 20,1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,100,123.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to the formation of integratedstructures and circuits on semi-conductor substrates and moreparticularly to the formation of FET structures and circuits. In evenmore particular aspects, this invention relates to formation of CMOS FETstructures and circuits on semi-conductor substrates and especially topillar CMOS technology which utilizes both vertical and horizontalsurfaces on which to form FET devices.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

One technique of increasing integrated circuit density on a given sizesemi-conductor substrate is by using vertical surfaces on which to format least a portion of devices such as FET's. One form this takes isso-called pillar technology in which epitaxial silicon crystals or“pillars” are grown on a single silicon crystal substrate and thesidewalls of the grown epitaxial silicon “pillars”, are used to form atleast part of some of the devices, thus allowing increased integratedcircuit density, i.e. more devices per horizontal surface of thesubstrate, without necessity of reducing the layout ground rule size.This permits the use of coarser lithography as well permitting greaterchannel length control, both of which are desirable results inintegrated circuit technology.

The present invention provides an improved technique and resultingdevices in pillar CMOS technology.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention a method of forming a pillar CMOS FETdevice, especially an inverter, and the device so formed is provided.The method includes the steps of forming abutting N wells and P wells ina silicon substrate and then forming N⁺ and P⁺ diffusions in the P and Nwells respectively. A unitary pillar of the epitaxial silicon is grownon the substrate which pillar has a base at the substrate which baseoverlays both the N and P wells and preferably extends at least fromsaid N⁺ diffusion to said P⁺ diffusion in said substrate. The pillarterminates at a distal end. An N well is formed on the side of thepillar overlying the N well in the substrate and a P well is formed onthe side of the distal end of the pillar overlying the P well on thesubstrate and abuts the N well in the pillar. A P⁺ diffusion is formedin the N well in the pillar adjacent the distal end and a N⁺ diffusionis formed in the P well in the pillar adjacent the distal end. A gateinsulator preferably silicon dioxide is formed over both sides of thepillar and gate electrodes are formed over the gate insulators.

In one embodiment the mask material is formed on the substrate with anopening which extends down to the substrate and mandrel or spacermaterial is deposited in the opening around the walls of the mask. Theepitaxial silicon is grown within the opening defining the spacermaterial. The spacer or mandrel material is then removed and gateinsulators are grown on opposite sides of the pillar followed by forminggates on opposite sides of the pillar preferably of polysilicon. In thisembodiment, wiring channels can be formed at the same time as theopening in the mask material is formed and the mandrel materialdeposited in the channels which mandrel material is removed at the sametime the mandrel is removed after the growing of the epitaxial silicon.The insulator is grown on the substrate and wiring preferablypolysilicon is deposited in the channels preferably at the same timethat the gate material is deposited.

In another embodiment a self-aligning process of forming the pillarwhere the N and P wells is provided so as to precisely align the pillaron the substrate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 through 8 are longitudinal sectional views somewhat diagrammaticdepicting the steps in forming a pillar CMOS structure according to oneembodiment of the present invention:

FIGS. 1A through 5A are corresponding top-plan views somewhatdiagrammatic of the structures shown in FIGS. 1 through 5 respectively;

FIGS. 7A and 8A are corresponding top-plan views somewhat diagrammaticof the structures shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 respectively;

FIGS. 9 through 18 are longitudinal sectional views somewhatdiagrammatic of the steps in forming a pillar CMOS structure accordingto another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12A is a top-plan view somewhat diagrammatic showing the etchedwiring channels and openings for the polysilicon wiring and gates,

FIG. 16A is a top-plan x-ray view of a device of FIG. 16 with a cut maskshown for etching the polysilicon gates; and

FIG. 19 is a top plan view somewhat schematic showing the wiring of twodevices formed on a pillar as an inverter;

FIG. 19A is a schematic representation of the circuitry formed by theconnection in FIG. 19;

FIG. 20 is a top plan view somewhat schematic of two pillar constitutingfour devices where there is a two input NAND gate; and

FIG. 20A is a schematic circuit representation of the circuit formed bythe wiring in FIG. 20.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings and for the present FIGS. 1 through 8, 1Athrough 5A, and 7A and 8A, various successive steps in the production ofa pillar CMOS structure according to one embodiment of the presentinvention is shown. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 1A, a single crystal siliconsubstrate 10 is provided which has formed thereon a layer of sacrificialsilicon dioxide 12. Typically the silicon dioxide layer 12 is about 50to 100 A thick. A mask material 14 which preferably is an insulatingmaterial and in the preferred embodiment is silicon nitride, isdeposited on top of the oxide layer 12 which mask 14 has an opening 16formed therein. The opening 16 can be formed by conventionalphotolithographic techniques wherein a photoresist material is appliedover the mask, exposed, developed and the mask etched down to the oxidelayer 12. The opening 16 is then used to implant P-type ions into thesubstrate 10 to form a P well 18. Typical P-type ions are boron, boronfluoride and indium with boron being the most common. This structure isshown in FIGS. 1 and 1A. (It is to be understood that many pillars aretypically formed in the manufacture of the circuitry, with only onebeing shown for illustration.)

Following the implanting of the P ions to form the P well 18, sidewalloxide spacer 26 is formed around the opening 16 to thereby form asmaller opening 27 into which N-type ions are implanted to form an N⁺diffusion zone 28. Typical N-type ions are phosphorous and arsenic. Thusas shown in FIGS. 2 and 2A a single silicon crystal substrate 10 isprovided which has a P well 18 and N⁺ diffusion 28 therein.

Following the steps shown in FIGS. 2 and 2A a layer of polysilicon 32 isdeposited over the entire surface including the silicon nitride layer 14and the exposed sacrificial oxide 12 on top of the N⁺ diffusion. Thepolysilicon layer 32 is then chemically/mechanically (CHEM/MEC) polisheduntil the surface is planar and then by conventional photolithographicmethods a portion of the nitride layer 14 is exposed and reactive ionetched down to the oxide layer 12 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 3a. Followingthis, N-type ions are implanted into the substrate 10 adjacent to the Pwell 18 to form an N well 34 as shown in FIG. 3

An additional sidewall oxide spacer 36 is then deposited as shownadjacent the oxide spacer 26 to form an opening 37 and P ions areimplanted in the N well 34 to form a P⁺ diffusion 38 as shown in FIG. 4.Thus, at this point there are adjacent P and N wells with the P wellhaving an N⁴⁰ diffusion therein and the N well having a P diffusiontherein.

Following the formation of the P⁺ diffusion shown in FIGS. 4 and 4a, theremaining polysilicon 32 is stripped and silicon nitride 42 is depositedas a mask material around the oxide 26 and 36. This then planarized andthe oxides 26 and 36 are then removed, in window 39, defined by a mark,as well as the oxide 12 underlying the oxide 26 and 36 etched down tothe substrate as is shown in FIG. 5. This will expose portions of the Pwell and the N well since the etching of the oxides will remove thesacrificial oxide 12 in the opening as well as the oxides 26 and 36.This is shown in FIGS. 5 and 5A.

Following the removal of the oxides a column or pillar 44 of epitaxialsilicon is grown in the opening on the exposed surface of the siliconsubstrate 10 where the oxides have been removed as shown in FIG. 6. Theepitaxial silicon preferably is grown selectively at low temperatures,i.e. preferably below about 800° centigrade in an atmosphere such asdi-chlor silane (DCS) plus H₂ plus HCI so as prevent nucleation on thesidewall sites and thus assure that single crystal epitaxial siliconwill grow. However, technology advances have made it possible to usehigher temperature and different ambients, in some instances. Thestructure is then polished by CHEM/MEC polishing and the epitaxialsilicon is implanted with P-type ions to form a P well in the pillar 44as shown in FIG. 6.

Following this, a layer of photoresist 46 is applied over the exposedsurface of the silicon nitride 42 and the epitaxial silicon 44 shown inFIG. 6 and is patterned by conventional photolithographic techniques toform an opening 48 therein, which opening is generally aligned with theportion of the pillar 44 on top of the N well 34 and the portion ofsilicon nitride 42 overlying the P⁺ diffusion as shown in FIGS. 7 and7a. This is then implanted with N-type ions to form a continuation ofthe N well as shown in FIGS. 7 and 7a. It will be appreciated that theimplant of the N-type ions will counter dope the previous P doping andwill thus form a pillar having an N well doped 50 on the left-hand sidecorresponding to and merging with the N well 34 and P well doped 52 onthe right-hand side corresponding to and merging with the P-doped well18, all as shown in FIGS. 7 and 7a.

Following of the forming of the structure shown in FIGS. 7 and 7a thephotoresist 46 is stripped and an oxide cap 60 is grown on top of thepillar 44 and then the nitride mask 42 is stripped. Thereafter sidewallgate dielectrics such as silicon dioxide or silicon-oxynitride 62 and 63are formed on opposite sides of the pillar 44. Thereafter a layer ofpolysilicon is deposited over the entire structure. The polysiliconlayer is planarized and polished to the top of cap oxide 60 to formseparate layers 64 and 66.

Polysilicon layers 64 and 66 are then reactive ion etched selective tooxide to the configuration shown in FIGS. 8 and 8a. Any remainingexposed thin gate oxide on the sides of the pillar 44 is removed. Thiswill expose a portion of the top of the pillar 44 to angle implant P⁺ions to form a P⁺ diffusion 68 in the N well on the left-hand side andto angle implant N-type ions to form an N⁺ diffusion 69 in the P well onthe right-hand side of the pillar 44 (as shown in FIGS. 8 and 8a). Asacrificial oxide may be grown on the exposed silicon surfaces prior tothe implanting of the diffusion is desired. As is well known in the art,photoresist is used to mask areas that are not to be implanted (i.e.right-hand side when left-hand side is implanted and vice-versa). Alsothe P⁺ ions will dope the polysilicon 64 and the N ions will dope thepolysilicon 66.

The polysilicon 64 acts as a gate electrode over the gate oxide 63 for aPFET, the source and drain being the P⁺ diffusions, and the polysilicon66 acts as a gate electrode over gate oxide 62 to form an NFET with theN⁺ diffusions acting as the source and drain for the NFET.

Thus as can be seen, the FET's are located on a pillar in a verticaldirection and thus longer channels can be achieved if desired, withoututilizing any additional space on the surface of silicon wafer 10; andmore devices can be formed in a given area on the wafer 10.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 through 17, the steps of forming a pillar CMOSstructure according to another embodiment of the present invention areshown. As shown in FIG. 9 a single crystal silicon substrate 90 isprovided on top of which is deposited a P well mask layer 92. The mask92 can be a photoresist or other organic material, or silicon dioxide orsilicon nitride. An opening 94 is formed in the mask material 92 andP-type ions are implanted to form a P well 96 in the substrate 90 asshown in FIG. 9. A sidewall spacer 98 is formed adjacent the P well 92following which N⁺ diffusion zone 100 is formed in the P well byimplanting N-type ions to form the structure as shown in FIG. 10. Ifmask layer 92 is photoresist or other organic material, spacer material98 preferably should be organic such as photoresist, paralyne orpolyimide.

The mask 92 and the sidewall 98 are then stripped and an N well mask 106is provided over the N⁺ diffusion in the P well with opening 108overlying the substrate 90 adjacent the P well 96. Again, the mask iseither a photoresist or other organic material or a silicon dioxide orsilicon nitride material. N-type ions are implanted into the siliconsubstrate 90 adjacent the P well ions to form an N well 110. Side wallspacer 112 is then formed adjacent the N well mask 106 and P-type ionsare implanted into the N well to form a P⁺ diffusion 114 as shown inFIG. 11. The N well mask material 106 and sidewall spacer 112 are thenstripped and a pillar “hard” mask 120 is deposited on the strippedsurface. The pillar mask preferably is silicon dioxide or siliconnitride to withstand subsequent hot processing steps, and an opening 122is formed therein which overlies the portion of the P⁺ diffusion in theN well, and the N⁺ diffusion in the P well. This is formed byconventional photolithographic techniques wherein opened portion 122 ofmask material 120 is etched down to the exposed substrate as shown inFIG. 12.

At the same time that the opening 122 is formed in the mask 120,openings or channels (one of which is shown) 124 for the channel wiringare also etched in the mask material 120 down to the substrate surfaceusing the same photolithographic techniques and in the same operation aswhen the opening 122 is formed. This is shown somewhat diagrammaticallyin FIGS. 12 and 12A. (These channels could also be formed over anisolation region such as shallow trench insulation (STI), LOCOS (localoxidation of silicon) or other insulating material to reduce coupling tothe substrate.)

Following the forming of the opening 122 and the channels 124 for thewiring, a conformal layer of gate mandrel material 128 is deposited overthe surface of the structure shown in FIG. 12, which completely fillsthe channel 124 and which conforms to the opening 122 as shown in FIG.13. The material 128 is selected so as to etch selectively to both themask material 120 and epitaxial silicon as will be explained presently.Thus if, for example, the mask 120 is formed of silicon dioxide which ispreferable, the mandrel material 128 is a silicon nitride. Reactive IonEtching (RIE) is used to form spacers 129 from the mandrel material 128on the edges of the mask 120 in the opening 122. Thereafter a pillar orcolumn 130 of epitaxial silicon is grown from the surface of the crystal90. The top of the pillar 130 is preferably planarized by CHEM/MECpolishing. (Due to the much higher aspect ratio of the channels 124, themandrel material 128 in the channels 124 blocks the bottom of thechannel opening, thus preventing subsequent epitaxial silicon growth inthe gate channel wiring opening 124.) The pillar 130 is separated fromthe mask 120 by the spacers 129, as is shown in FIG. 14.

Following the growing of the column 130 the spacers 129 are removed byetching leaving a space 131 between the pillar 130 and the mask 120.This also removes remaining mandrel material 128 in the channels, andthis opens the wiring channels 124 to the substrate. Thereafter gatedielectric 132 such as silicon dioxide is formed on the sides of thepillar 132, gate dielectric 134 is formed on the surface of the siliconcrystal 90, and cap dielectric 136 is formed on top of the pillar 130Also, dielectric material 137 is formed on the substrate 10 in thechannels 134. This is shown in FIG. 15. Following this, gate polysilicon140 is deposited in the space 131 between the gate dielectric 132 andthe pillar mask 120 as shown in FIG. 16. Gate polysilicon 141 is alsodeposited in the gate wiring channels 124 on material 137 also as shownis FIG. 16.

FIG. 16A depicts photolithographic techniques used to remove the ends ofthe polysilicon 140 so as to have separate gate electrodes on oppositesides of the pillar 132. This is done by photolithographic techniquesusing photoresist and a cut-mask 142 as shown diagrammatically in 16Aand is known in the art. Removal of gate conductor from the sides of thepillar prevents parasitic conduction from source/drain diffusions toadjacent wells.

Following this, the cap oxide 136 is removed. The implanting of thepillar 130 to form wells and diffusions is shown, diagrammatically inFIGS. 17 and 18. As shown in FIG. 17 an N well mask 150 is providedhaving an opening 152 through which an N well 154 is formed in the leftside of the pillar 130. A spacer 156 is formed and a P⁺ diffusion 158 isprovided in the N well 154. The mask 150 and spacer 156 is then strippedand the same procedure is repeated on the opposite side using mask 164having opening 166 and side wall spacer 168 to form a P well 170 on theright-hand side of the column 130 with an N⁺ diffusion 172 in this Pwell. The mask 164 and sidewall material 168 is removed and thus FETdevices are provided on the column which include a PFET with P⁺ region14 on the substrate 10 and the P⁺ region 158 in the pillar 130 acting asa source and drain and the polysilicon 140 as the gate and an NFET isprovided on the opposite side of the pillar with the N⁺ region 100 onthe substrate 90 and the N⁺ region 172 in the pillar 130 acting assource and drain and polysilicon 140 acting as a gate.

FIG. 19 is a somewhat schematic top plan view representation of thewiring of the two devices formed on a single pillar in the substrate foruse as an inverter. As can be seen the gate wiring 141 connects thegates 140 on both the PFET and the NFET. This constitutes one level ofwiring. A second level of wiring designated as 180 connects the P⁺ andN⁺ diffusions at contacts 182 and 183 respectively of the opposite sidesof the pillar and it is tied together to be the output {overscore (A)}from the inverter. The input A is to the gate wiring 141 as indicated inFIG. 19. Voltage and ground are applied as shown schematically at VH andGND respectively. The circuit representation of the connection shown inFIG. 19 is shown in FIG. 19A.

FIG. 20 is a top plan view somewhat schematic showing two pillars on thesubstrate constituting four devices wired as a NAND gate. The pillarsare designated arbitrarily pillar 1 and pillar 2 and the devices aredesignated arbitrarily device 1, device 2, device 3, and device 4.(These designations correspond to the diagram shown in FIG. 20A.) Asseen in FIG. 20, the gate wiring 141 ties gates 140 on opposite sides ofboth pillar 1 and pillar 2; i.e. the gates 140 of device 1 and device 3are connected and the gates 140 of device 2 and device 4 are connected.The input to devices 1 and 3 is gate input A and the input to devices 2and 4 is gate input B. At the next level up wiring 184 connects throughcontact 186 to P⁺ diffusion 158 in device 3 and P⁺ diffusion 158 throughcontact 188 in device 4 and to N⁺ diffusion 172 in device 2 by contact190. Typically line 184 constitutes the output AB. At the next levelabove the level of the wiring on 184, additional wiring 192 which isconnected by via 194 to the N⁺ diffusion 172 in device 1 and by via 196to N⁺ diffusion 100 in device 2. The P⁺ diffusions 114 in the substratesin devices 3 and 4 are connected to voltage (VH) and the N⁺ diffusions100 in the substrate in devices 1 and 2 are connected to ground (GND).This connection is shown schematically in FIG. 20A. It is to beunderstood that the connections of the PFET and NFET as shown in FIGS.19 and 19A to form an inverter are well known as well as are theconnections of the PFET's and NFET's as shown in FIGS. 20 and 20A toform a NAND gate. It is also to be understood that other gates and thelike can also be wired with the above two described being merelyillustrative and not intended to be limiting.

what is claimed is:
 1. A pillar CMOS FET circuit comprising: A silicon substrate; a single undivided unitary pillar of epitaxial silicon extending from a base at said substrate to a distal end; said pillar having opposite sides with an N well on one side thereof and a P well on the other side thereof in contact with said N well; an N⁺ diffusion in said P well at said distal end of said pillar and a P⁺ diffusion in the N well at said distal end of said pillar; an N well in said substrate in contact with said N well in said pillar and a P well in said substrate in contact with said P well in said pillar; a N⁺ diffusion in said P well in said substrate and a P⁺ diffusion in said N well in said substrate; and gate insulator and gate electrodes on said opposite sides of said pillar.
 2. The invention is defined in claim 1 wherein said N⁺ diffusion in said P well in said substrate and said P⁺ diffusion in said N well each extend at least to the base of the epitaxial silicon pillar.
 3. The invention is defined in claim 1 wherein a mask material of dielectric material is disposed on said substrate, and a plurality of wiring channels are formed in said mask material, and polysilicon is deposited in said wiring channels to connect said FET device as an inverter.
 4. The invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said gate electrodes are polysilicon. 